If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Another DIY UQ Kmart Down

My mom helped me sew a DIY Kmart Down UQ this weekend.
Same as everyone else's, but I am proud of it.

• 1.1 ripstop (Backwoods daydreamer)
• 16 oz Kmart Down
(I'm sticking with the 550 FP estimate. Also, tag says 75% down, but I only found 2 feathers.)
• 44" x 60" with 2..25" baffles (Baffles made from 2.5" organza ribbon ---- no cutting strips of bug net).
(Mom insisted we bump length from 55 to 60. She did not have faith in the 3/4 UQ concept. I'm not going to argue with my mom.)
• 2" + loft
• Total weight with way too much shock cord is 28.60 oz.
• 1.5" grosgrain on head and foot for "cinching"
• 1.5" grosgrain down long sides for shock cord suspension method
AND
Webbing loops in each corner for alternate suspension.
I will decide later which version I like better.
• We left darts out. (We actually did some teeny tiny darts to make the narrower top side match the wider bottom side when we sewed it shut, but we did not do the traditional darts which help shape the UQ into a bowl shape. That is why my UQ lays flat in photos of it on the floor. Why did we leave the darts out? Because there are so many decisions to make along the way and thats just what we decided)
• $10 Kmart pillow
$18 rip stop
$5 Guttermans
$5 grosgrain 1.5"
$7 organza ribbon 2.5"
$3 webbing
$48 TOTAL
• 2 hours cutting and measuring
7 hours sewing
1 hour stuffing down
1 hour second guessing myself
130 hours planning, reading Hammock Forum, thinking, stealing ideas, taking notes, wasting time at work

On the absent darts for tapering: I think some analysis will show that matters more for effectiveness is where the tension is put, so the quilt gets and stays intimate with the bottom of the hammock across the entire quilt surface. Darting with very flexible fabric minimizes the weight to warm ratio more than it increases warmth. So, darts would have saved you some weight--an ounce or less?

But given all the threats to heat escaping and cold air getting in, and how much time your technical advisor, contractor, and crews contributed.............

I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."